The Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC), in partnership with the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative/Case Western Reserve University (CTSC/CWRU) and in collaboration with the embedded Cleveland Metropolitan School District's (CMSD) MC2 STEM High School, requests support from the NIH-SEPA program to develop BioMedTech: Students Translating and Exploring Medicine (STEM). The project will address the obesity epidemic and the rapid increase in diabetes, a deadly combination that multiplies the risk of cardiovascular disease. With high school student research and science communication internships at the center of the project, students will assist GLSC in designing exhibits and education programs that introduce the public to the broad spectrum of research that is needed on the linkages between obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, including laboratory, clinical, community, and population research. Working with GLSC's and the CTSC's extensive community networks, the SEPA- CTSC model partnership will engage the community in planning and evaluating educational activities. The project builds on the ongoing partnership developed between GLSC and CTSC/CWRU and collaboration with CMSD, which have been critical to GLSC's current SEPA- funded project, BioMedTech: Mapping the Future of BioEngineering and Technology. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): The obesity epidemic has been matched by an increase in diabetes, a deadly combination that multiplies the risk of cardiovascular disease by several times. BioMedTech: STEM will introduce students and the general public to the broad spectrum of research that is needed on the linkages between obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, including laboratory, clinical, community, and population research.